U.S. Pat. No. 3,626,556 discloses an apparatus for restraining a vehicle occupant. The apparatus disclosed in the '556 patent includes a pair of lap belts which extend toward each other across the lap of a vehicle occupant, and a shoulder belt which extends across the shoulder of the vehicle occupant toward the lap belts. A buckle mechanism releasably connects the two lap belts and the shoulder belt to each other in front of the vehicle occupant. The buckle mechanism includes a buckle for the lap belts and another buckle for the shoulder belt. The lap belt buckle is a top release buckle having an actuator button which is pushed downward into the buckle by a vehicle occupant to release the lap belts. The shoulder belt buckle has an actuator lever which is pivoted downward by the thumb of the vehicle occupant to release the shoulder belt.